1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dust filter and an apparatus for automated dust filter cleaning.
2. Background of the Related Art
Airflow is commonly used to remove heat generated by components within a computer. For example, an individual PC typically includes one or more on-board cooling fans disposed within the housing to cool the processors, power supply, memory, and other internal components. In more expansive computer systems, such as rack-based computer systems having multiple servers, one or more blower modules are supported on a chassis along with the servers to generate airflow through the servers and other components. Despite efforts to keep a computer center clean and filter dust out of the air, the airflow used to cool a computer carries some amount of dust, which accumulates over time on internal components of the computer.
Unfortunately, dust accumulation can cause problems in a computer system. Excessive dust build-up can reduce performance, increase the rate at which components fail, and reduce overall system reliability. Dust can interfere with operation of moving parts, such as fan blades and mechanical connectors, and reduce the reliability of electrical components, such as by dirtying electrical contacts in electrical connectors. Dust can even give off an unpleasant odor in the presence of hot components.
Dust can be especially problematic for heatsinks. A heatsink typically protrudes beyond neighboring components, positioning the heatsink well into the airflow for cooling. Thus, dust may accumulate more heavily on a heatsink than on other components. Dust deposited on heatsink fins can reduce the thermal efficiency of the heatsink, which affects the temperature and cooling performance of the hardware device in contact with the heatsink. These effects are compounded in rack systems having many servers that each contains one or more processors and dust-accumulating heatsinks. Furthermore, the need to remove and inspect each server and other hardware devices for accumulated dust causes an increase in the time and associated expense involved with system maintenance.
Some computer chassis now have removable dust filters that extract dust particles from the air before the air enters the computer chassis. Over time these filters become clogged with dust blocking the airflow through the chassis and reducing the capacity to cool heat-generating components within the chassis. Current solutions include replacing the filter or advancing a filter roll.